Building

ABSTRACT

A building of geodesic type and comprised of four sub-assembly hexagonal units, one of which units constitutes a roof and the other three are disposed in tripod fashion to support the roof and together therewith constitute a generally hemispherical space capturing structure. The upper portions of the spaces between the three wall hexagonal units are closed by isosceles preformed panels which will ordinarily be flat and trapezoid in form and identical with each other, while all the hexagonal units are also identical with each other and each composed of six identical triangular panels. The triangular panels are isosceles and apices of the six triangles in each unit are at a common point removed from the common plane of the bases of the triangles so that the units are dished. All the panels are peripherally bevelled for ease and stability of interconnection and the building is completely prefabricated. From the foregoing it will be evident that the building is constructed from elements of only two basic shapes, namely, an isosceles triangle and an isosceles trapezoid, all the triangles being also identical.

United States Patent [1 1 OConnell, Jr. et al.

[ Dec. 16, 1975 BUILDING [75] Inventors: Harry P. OConnell, Jr.; EugeneE.

Hopster, both of El Cajon, Calif.

[73] Assignee: Donn H. Gross [22] Filed: July 24, 1972 [21] Appl. No:274,495

OTHER PUBLICATIONS Domebook 2, 1st printing, May 1971, by Pacific Domes,page 105.

Primary E.\'aminerJohn E. Murtagh Attorney, Agent, or FirmRalph S.Branscomb [57} ABSTRACT A building of geodesic type and comprised offour sub-assembly hexagonal units, one of which units constitutes a roofand the other three are disposed in tripod fashion to support the roofand together therewith constitute a generally hemispherical spacecapturing structure. The upper portions of the spaces between the threewall hexagonal units are closed by isosceles preformed panels which willordinarily be flat and trapezoid in form and identical with each other.while all the hexagonal units are also identical with each other andeach composed of six identical triangular panels. The triangular panelsare isosceles and apices of the six triangles in each unit are at acommon point removed from the common plane of the bases of the trianglesso that the units are dished. All the panels are peripherally bevelledfor ease and stability of interconnection and the building is completelyprefabricated. From the foregoing it will be evident that the buildingis constructed from elements of only two basic shapes. namely, anisosceles triangle and an isosceles trapezoid, all the triangles beingalso identical.

7 Claims, 11 Drawing Figures U.S. Patent Dec. I6, 1975 Sheet 1 on3,925,940

Fig.3

4o- 32 BEk/ 3s Fig.4

US. Patent Dec. 16, 1975 Sheet 2 of2 3,925,940

BUILDING BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Many geodesic buildings have beendeveloped and a considerable number have been patented. These prior artstructures include self-supporting walls and domes, so this broadconcept is recognized as not novel. The concepts of prefabrication andmodular design as such are also notoriously old. The broad concept ofbevelling the edges of the element and the bolting of the componentparts together is old in the art. There exists a need, however, for aneven simpler construction, involving the minimum number of basicelements of identical shape and size, involving minimal cost of labor inprefabrication of the elements and on-the-job assembly and erection ofthe building, together with aesthetic and utilitarian design in thecompleted assembly with some emphasis on provision of easily engineeredaccess-openings for the building.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The building as herein claimed satisfies theabove mentioned need. The self-supporting shell is generallyhemispherical, being comprised of a hexagonal subassembly roof unitsupported by three wall sub-assembly units and disposed in tripodarrangement with the upper edges of these wall units secured toalternate edges of the roof unit and the lower edges of the wall unitsbeing coplanar and defining the base plane of the building which isnormally supported on a flat slab. The spaces between the tripodarranged wall units are closed at the top by three identical isoscelespreformed panels, ordinarily trapezoid, while the lower portions ofthese spaces define access openings for the building which may be closedas required by conventional door structures. Each hexagonal unit isconstructed of six identical isosceles triangular panels and thesepanels as well as the trapezoid panels are peripherally bevelled forease and stability in erection and securement together. The triangularpanels are dimensioned so that the perpendiculars of the trianglessubtend equal angles at the central base point of the building and thisis accomplished by a critical dimensioning of the triangles dictatedfurther by the elevation of the common apices of the triangles to effecta dishing of the hexagonal units so that the structure isself-supporting.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of abuilding structure constructed according to this invention;

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of a hexagonal subassembly unit;

FIG. 3 is a side elevation view of the sub-assembly unit of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a top plan view of the structure flattened out as a planarlayout to illustrate the combinations of standard panels;

FIG. 5 is a side elevation view of the building structure;

FIG. 6 is an enlarged view of a typical triangular panel used in thehexagonal sub-assembly unit;

FIG. 7 is an enlarged sectional view taken on line 7-7 of FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 is an enlarged sectional view taken on line 8-8 of FIG. 6;

FIG. 9 is an enlarged view of a typical trapezoidal panel;

2 FIG. 10 is an enlarged sectional view taken on line 1010 of FIG. 9;and

FIG. 11 is an enlarged sectionalview taken on line 11-11 of FIG. 9.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT As illustrated thebuilding is of geodesic type, a selfsupporting shell or dome ofgenerally hemispherical shape and will ordinarily be supported on andsecured to a slab 10 or equivalent flat base. Ignoring for the momentthe closure means for the access openings, shown in dash line in FIG. 4,the building is constructed of four identical hexagonal sub-assemblyunits, namely, the roof unit 12 and the three wall units 14, and threeidentical isosceles preformed panels 16 which are shown as trapezoidal.

Each of said hexagonal units is a sub-assembly of six identicaltriangular panels 18 and the triangular shapes have equal sides 20,bases 22 and apices 24 at a common point removed from the common planeof the bases 22 so that the hexagonal units are dished. The bases 22will be referred to therein alternatively as the edges of the hexagonalunits and with this in mind it will be noted that the upper edges of thewall units 14 are secured to alternate edges of the roof unit 12 as at26. Likewise, the trapezoid panels 16 have what may be considered theirupper edges 28, each of a length equal to the bases 22, secured to theintervening edges of the roof unit 12, and the sides 30 of thetrapezoids are equal in length with the sides 20 of the triangularpanels, enabling the interconnection of the sides 20 and 30. The loweredges 32 of the trapezoids l6 define headers for possible accessopenings 34 for the building, best illustrated in FIG. 1 and theseopenings may alternatively be closed as by doors 36 which may be slidingor hinged as desired and flanked by any suitable wall panels 38. Thedoors and wall panels, if required, are conceived as ordinarillyvertical and may vary considerably while remaining complementary to thegeneral tripod arrangement of the hexagonal sub-assembly wall units 14.Of course the openings can be treated to accomodate windows or be closedfor non-access solid panels such as that diagrammatically indicated at40 in FIG. 4. Again, such engineering treatment of the openings 34 isconceived as complementary rather than elemental in relation to theinstant invention.

The edges of the triangular and trapezoid panels 18 and 16 areillustrated in FIGS. 7, 8, 10 and 11 as bevelled for interfitting withadjacent panels and as illustrated edge members 42-48, preferably oflengths substantially equal to the edges of the panels, and preferablyalso of considerable cross-sectional size, are secured to the respectivepanels by adhesive, nailing or otherwise. The edge members areordinarily of wood but the material feature of this invention, asillustrated, these edge members have surfaces 50, 52, 54 and 56 inclinedto interfit with the adjacent panels. Securement of the abutting edgemembers may be by adhesives, bolting, bracketing, nailing or otherwise,the techniques for such securement being old and well known.

The angulation of the surfaces 50 is quite important and as illustratedthe edge members 44 have inclined surfaces 52 at an angle of 15 degreesfrom the plane of the triangular panels 18 and when the wallsub-assembly units 14 are secured, by hold-down bolts or otherwise, tothe slab 10, the 15 degree inclination of the lowermost triangular panelof each unit 14 results in this same triangular panel subtending anangle of degrees at the center of the base of the building as indicatedin FIG. 5. The opposite triangular panel in the same hexagonal wallunit, and the adjacent triangular panel of the roof unit 12, also eachsubtend an angle of 30 degrees at the center of the base of thebuilding, this uniformity and standarization further accentuating thetruly modular character of the structure and facilitating theprefabrication, installation and easy shifting of partitions and otherstructural elements within the building. When the foregoing angulationof the edge members is used the corresponding angular relationship ofthe panels 16 and 18 as indicated in the drawings provide for perfectinterfitting and abutment of the prefabricated elements so that erectionof the building is facilitated.

We claim: 1. A geodesic type building having a self-supporting shell,said shell comprising:

an equilateral hexagonal roof sub-assembly unit having the peripheraledges thereof horizontal, and three hexagonal wall sub-assembly units inupstanding tripod arrangement, the lowermost edges thereof beingcoplanar and horizontal and together defining the base plane of thebuilding, and the upper edges thereof being secured to alternate edgesof said roof sub-assembly unit; and three trapezoidal panels each havingone edge secured to an edge of said roof sub-assembly unit between twoof said wall sub-assemblies and having two opposing edges secured toadjacent edges of said two wall sub-assembly units;

all of said units being of identical planform.

2. A building according to claim 1 wherein said units are identical.

3. A building according to claim 1 wherein each of said units consistsof six identical triangular panels.

4. A building according to claim 3 wherein each unit is dished, theoutside edges of each unit being in a common plane and the apices of thetriangular of each unit being of a common point removed from said plane,the totality of said points lying in a projected hemisphere.

5. A building according to claim 3 wherein each triangular panel isisosceles with the base slightly shorter than the sides.

6. A building according to claim 1 wherein the trapezoid panels areidentical isosceles trapezoids with the longest sides disposeddownwardly as a header for a wall opening of a width dimension greaterthan the length dimension of the base of one of said triangular panels.

7. A building according to claim 1 wherein each of said units consistsof six identical isosceles triangular panels with the apices thereof ata common point and the bases of the triangles constituting said edges ofsaid units, and the perpendiculars of said triangular panels subtendin gangles of 30 at the center of said base plane of the building.

1. A geodesic type building having a self-supporting shell, said shellcomprising: an equilateral hexagonal roof sub-assembly unit having theperipheral edges thereof horizontal, and three hexagonal wallsub-assembly units in upstanding tripod arrangement, the lowermost edgesthereof being coplanar and horizontal and together defining the baseplane of the building, and the upper edges thereof being secured toalternate edges of said roof sub-assembly unit; and three trapezoidalpanels each having one edge secured to an edge of said roof sub-assemblyunit between two of said wall subassemblies and having two opposingedges secured to adjacent edges of said two wall sub-assembly units; allof said units being of identical planform.
 2. A building according toclaim 1 wherein said units are identical.
 3. A building according toclaim 1 wherein each of said units consists of six identical triangularpanels.
 4. A building according to claim 3 wherein each unit is dished,the outside edges of each unit being in a common plane and the apices ofthe triangular of each unit being of a common point removed from saidplane, the totality of said points lying in a projected hemisphere.
 5. Abuilding according to claim 3 wherein each triangular panel is isosceleswith the base slightly shorter than the sides.
 6. A building accordingto claim 1 wherein the trapezoid panels are identical isoscelestrapezoids with the longest sides disposed downwardly as a header for awall opening of a width dimension greater than the length dimension ofthe base of one of said triangular panels.
 7. A building according toclaim 1 wherein each of said units consists of six identical isoscelestriangular panels with the apices thereof at a common point and thebases of the triangles constituting said edges of said units, and theperpendiculars of said triangular panels subtending angles of 30* at thecenter of said base plane of the building.